In the 90-degree heat on Wednesday, celebrity chef Mario Batali set up a makeshift kitchen on the Chevy Court stage and prepared simple Italian food using grown-in-New York ingredients.

On Tuesday, meanwhile, I went back to the fair with my videographer-friend Joyce Gramza, and together we made the video you see here. It never would have occurred to me to do a "vlog," but Joyce wanted to make a video and try out her new Final Cut editing software -- and her enthusiasm is contagious.

Did you know that this year there are two new restaurants, one in the Infield area and another in the Horticulture Building, serving only products grown, raised or produced in New York State?

I wish I had known that before I went to the fair last Saturday, and again on Monday. And I wish I had my camera Monday to snap a photo of the Pride of New York farm stand, adjacent to the Pride of New York Marketplace, near Chevy Court.

The marketplace features spice rubs, sauces, dressings, marinades, pasta, granola and other products from every corner of our fair state, while the farm market features fresh pears, plums, potatoes, tomatoes, squash, corn and other produce, trucked in from area farms. It's between the main fair entrance/exit, next to a Solvay Bank ATM and in front of the Administration Building.

After a mega state fair lunch on Monday (Gianelli sausage sandwich smothered in peppers and onions; "Creamsicle'' frozen custard for dessert), I boarded the bus home carrying my new "ChamWOW'' cleaning cloths from the Center of Progress Building and a parcel of corn and green and yellow squash from the farm stand.

The corn and squash joined tomatoes, onions, garlic and basil, already at home, in a big pot of what I'm calling Forgive Me My State Fair Sins Soup. It's a variation of Mark Bittman's Corn, Tomato and Zucchini Soup, from his book "How to Cook Everything.''

And it's just the ticket for getting back to healthy eating after a weekend of excess, State Fair or otherwise.

What you'll need:

6 cups vegetable broth

2 ears fresh corn

2 tablespoons butter or olive oil, or a combination

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes (see note)

2 cloves minced garlic

2 small zucchini, diced

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar, or to taste

Heat the broth in a large, deep saucepan. Cut the corn kernels from the cob and set aside. Add cobs to pot of broth and let them simmer gently with the lid partially on the pot while you prepare the other vegetables.

Place the butter in a large, deep saucepan and heat over medium temperature. Add onion and cook, stirring until it begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, zucchini, garlic, salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

The pot on the left holds the broth and corn cobs, while the pot on the right holds the other vegetables.

Remove the corn cobs from the broth, then add the broth to the vegetables. Cook until the zucchini is tender, but not mushy, about 5 minutes. Stir in the corn kernels and the basil, reserving some to garnish the soup. Add the balsamic vinegar. Taste and adjust seasonings.

The recipe makes 4 servings. And the soup tastes even better the next day.

Note: Bittman's recipe calls for peeling and seeding the tomatoes, but that's not necessary.

08/09/2009

We eat a lot of chicken at our house. In the winter, Sunday dinner is often roasted chicken, prepared simply with lemon, garlic and herbs. Or oven "fried" chicken, which gets its crispiness from a coating of herbed bread crumbs.

In the summertime, chicken heads outside to the grill, usually for one of two preparations: Beer-Can Chicken and chicken with Cornell Barbecue Sauce.

I am not a master griller, far from it, in fact, but Beer-Can Chicken (above) makes me feel like one. The method captured my interest several years ago, when I did a breakfast-on-the-barbie feature for The Post-Standard and spoke with grilling guru Steven Raichlen, author of "Beer-Can Chicken (and 74 Other Offbeat Recipes for the Grill.''

He sold me on his grilling method of choice, and a few months later I made a beer-car turkey, using one of those huge cans of Foster's lager, for an offbeat Thanksgiving feature.

But back to the chicken.

The beer-can preparation is essentially roasted chicken, but done on a gas grill using the indirect method of grilling: The chicken is carefully placed on top of a half-full beer can with something strong underneath to support it, like a metal pie plate or cake pan you no longer use for baking, or a "vertical roaster,'' a stainless steel gizmo that holds a beer can and chicken (widely available at Wegmans and other retailers) The beer infuses the chicken, making it moist and tender.

Raichlen's book contains dozens of variations, including lemonade chicken, sake chicken and root beer chicken, but our favorite is based on his recipe for Cousin Rob's Cajun Chicken, partly because the leftovers make excellent chicken salad and fajitas.

The chicken marinates in a half-can of beer in the refrigerator for 45 minutes (turn it halfway through), then is dried with paper towels, brushed with oil and rubbed with a mixture made with 1 and a half tablespoons Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Cajun Foreplay and 1 and a half tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning. Save a little of the seasoning mix to add to the beer can.

Yes, getting the rub on the oiled chicken is a messy job. The prepped bird should look something like this.

Light one side of a gas grill and heat it to medium-high. Place the chicken and pan on the unlit side of the grill, close the lid and cook the chicken for 30 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and cook the chicken another hour or more, until the chicken is cooked through (about 180 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh).

Let your family and/or friends ooh and aah over the sight of the grilled chicken, then, using an oven mitt and tongs, remove the chicken from the beer can to a platter. This may be the hardest part of the whole process. Let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes, then carve and serve with your favorite side dishes.

Cornell Chicken, meanwhile, takes its name from the famous barbecue sauce created in the 1950s by the late Robert Baker, a professor of poultry science and food science at Cornell University who died in 2006. During his long career, Baker developed chicken "nuggets,'' and devised many innovative ways to use poultry.

The sauce is made with vinegar, oil, an egg and seasonings -- not a sweet, sticky, tomato-based red barbecue sauce. The chicken that results from using it is more like the church barbecue kind of chicken served all over Central New York, or the chicken served at seasonal stands like Bob's BBQ, on Route 281 in Homer.

If you don't feel like making "Cornell chicken,'' you can enjoy it at Baker's Chicken Coop, a popular stand along "Restaurant Row'' at the New York State Fair, and at Baker's Acres in Lansing. Both businesses are operated by Robert Baker's daughter, Reenie Baker Sandsted.
Cornell Barbecue Sauce
You'll need:
2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup oil
1 egg
3 tablespoons salt (or to taste)
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
Black pepper to taste

Add all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Marinate chicken in sauce overnight if possible, or for at least 1 to 2 hours. Grill chicken slowly, and baste while cooking.
The recipe makes enough for 10 half chickens. The sauce will keep for a couple weeks in the refrigerator.